Device for the launching of rockets from airplanes



March 10, 1953 R. RC-BERT ETAL 2,636,741

DEVICE FOR THE LAUNCHING OF ROCKETS FROM AIRPLANES Filed Nov. 13, 1946 v 3 Sheets-Sheet l 3 a l a V5 3 H I R; 8- a O m Q, 0 I O N E B a N N a o s i a %s a 5 x Q Q N I V(L:\\

WW J i R060? Roms-HM: P/ERRE M4765 1" minis March 10, 1953 R. ROBERT EIAL 2,630,741

DEVICE FOR THE LAUNCHING OF ROCKETS FROM AIRPLANES 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Nov. 15, 1946 mum/70R;

ROGER R08ERT M, PIRR MATGf I By I 1 1 Ag; NTS

Mamh M), 1953 2,630,741

DEVICE FOR THE LAUNCHING OF ROCKETS FROM AIRPLANES Filfid NOi. 15, 1946 I r R. RoBER-r ETAL' 3 2 Sheets-Sheet 3 FIG. 9

0 E Mm /R m o PIERRE M4T6 AGENTS Patented Mar. 10, 1953 DEVICE FOR THE LAUNCHING OF ROCKETS FROM AIRPLANES Roger Robert, Paris, and Pierre Matge, Aubervilliers, France; said Matge assignor to said Robert Application November 13, 1946, Serial No. 709,492 In France November 14, 1945 '7 Claims.

Rocket-missiles or bombs of the type that are launched from aircraft are at present generally arranged under the wing of the aircraft, in sideby-side relationship, Such arrangement imposes a limit on the number of bombs or rocket-bombs which a given aircraft may carry, since the increase in drag which the presence of the rockets entails soon reaches a prohibitive value.

It is the main object of this invention to provide a device for launching rocket-bombs from aircraft making it possible to launch a large number of such bombs in succession from a given aircraft, thereby conferring to the latter a considerably increased destructive capacity,

Other objects of the invention include the provision of a rocket-bomb launching device of the type described embodying one or more of the following features:

(1) The rocket-bombs are contained in a magazine which may for instance be housed within the fuselage;

(2) The rocket-bombs are arranged in parallel rows or files and are supported by the threads of adjacently disposed screws, so that rotation of said screws will cause the rocket-bombs to be fed towards the outlet thereof;

(3) In any one of the above-mentioned rows the rocket-bombs are interconnected in such a way that the bomb which is in launching position outside the magazine is supported by the next following bomb in that row;

(4) For this purpose, the rockets of each successive pair in each row are interconnected by a pair of links so arranged as to form with said pair of rocket-bombs a parallel-linkage system, which is in a folded or collapsed condition when the rocket-bombs are housed within the magazine, said linkage expanding as the lower rocketbpmbs of said pair escapes from the support of said screws, so that said rocket-bomb when in launching position is located at a sufficient distance from the rocket-bomb by which it is supported, to afford a free passage for its empennage;

(5)Backward movement of the links is prevented by the provision of a one-way catch device;

(6) Said catch is interposed between the suspending link and a supporting collar rigid with the rocket-bomb which is then acting to support the rocket-bomb in launching or firing or release position;

(7) A stop rigid with the magazine prevents displacement of the rocket-bomb in release position under the effect of aerodynamic forces;

(8) The rocket-bombs are adapted to be fed automatically as a result of the fact that the motor controlling the feed thereof is started when there is no rocket-bomb bearing against said stop and is automatically stopped when a rocket-bomb is brought to bear against said stop;

(9) A spring device is adapted to automatically cause retraction of the link after the rocketbomb supported thereby has been released;

(10) The empennage elements or tail-fins of the rocket-bombs are retained in folded or collapsed condition when the rocket-bombs are stored in the magazine and are automatically caused to expand to the operative condition thereof as the rocket-bomb issues from the magazine;

(11) The rocket-bombs are guided at the rear ends thereof within the magazine by an extension of the body of rocket-bombs rather than being guided by the empennage elements thereof;

(12) The rocket-bombs assembly as a whole is capped with an overlying follower structure adapted to be fed together therewith and adapted to provide for the suspension of the last rocketbomb in each row.

A preferred embodiment of the invention will now be described in detail by way of illustration and not of limitation of the scope of the invention, with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:

Fig. 1 is a longitudinal section of the magazine on the line ll of Fig. 2;

Fig. 2 is a transverse section on line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an overhead view corresponding with Fi 1;

Fig. 4 is a detail view on an enlarged scale, showing a suspension link with its pivotal connection to a supporting-collar, in an intermediate position;

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 4 but showing the rocket-bomb in its position of release, supported by the link;

Fig. 6 is a half-section on line 6-6 of Fig. 4;

Fig. '7 is a similar half-section on line 'l---! of Fi 5;

Fig. 8 is a view similar to Figs. 4 and 5, but after release of the rocket-bomb which had been suspended from the link;

Fig. 9 is a rear end view of a row of rocketbombs contained in the magazine with a rocketbomb in launching or firing or release position;

Fig. 10 is a corresponding view in side elevation.

In the exemplary embodiment shown, the rocket-bombs arearranged in three parallel rows 3 within the magazine I08 limited by front and rear walls ltll, I02 of the invention, which may for instance be housed within the fuselage the bottom of which is shown in I03.

Said magazine internally supports two pairs of screw members such as conveyor screws H, 12 and I3, I4. The shaft of each one of said screws, such as the shaft designated l for the screw 12, is rotatably journalled in a bearing Hi. All of said screw-shafts are driven through meshing pinions uch as l1, !8. The threads of the screws are formed with a concave or channel-shaped cross-sectional contour, as clearly shown in Fig. 2. This contour is conformed to correspond with the cross-sectional contour of the rockets which the screws areintended to support. The rocketbombs of the intermediaterow are imultaneously supported by the threads of both pairs of screws, While the rocket-bombs of the side rows are only supported by the thread of a single pair of screws. The latter rocket-bombs, on the opposite or outer side thereof are supported on vertical guide posts such as is and 20. The upperrocket-bombs in each row are capped with a follower structure 2| threaded on the screws H-M through tapped holes, said follower structure being adapted to follow the downward feed movement of the rocket-bombs and positively position the latter by means of the locating brackets 22 with which it is provided.

Each rocket-bomb 23 comprises a body 24, a cylindrical container 25 containing the propulsive charge, and a rear empennage or. tail-fin system 26, and i fitted with a pair of supporting collars or clamps 27 and 28, to which are pivotally connected the suspension links 29 and 33. The links 29 each terminate in a-hook member 3! adapted to engage a collar 32 of the rocket-bomb next below it. The links each terminate in a hook member 33 the peculiar shape of which will be described later and which is adapted to engage the top of a collar 34 of the next rocket below it.

The head portion 35 of each link, such as the link 30, is formed with a shoulder or notch 36 as clearly shown in Fig. 4, such that in the rotation of the link 30 about the pivot pin 31 thereof in the direction of the arrow 1 of Fig. 4, a springpressed stud 38 carried by the above-mentioned collar 28 is adapted, upon the link 36 reaching an upstanding position, to project into engagementwith said notch 36 (see Figs. 5 and 7) thereby positively preventing backward rotation of the link.

In the position shown in Fig. l, the rocket bomb ready for release is suspended from the links 29 and 30. Said rocket-bomb rests at its rear end upon a stop member 39 effective to oppose displacement of the rocket under the action of aerodynamic forces. The hook member 34 formed at the end of the links 29 does not interfere with the forward feedmotion of the rocket-bomb. The hook 33 on, the other hand is bifurcated (see Fig. 8) and between the branches 40 and 42 of the bifurcation thereof there is stretched a frangible wire or the like 52 or a strip retained by a frangible wire. Upon the rocketbomb beingfired the propulsive thrust is high enough to cause immediate breaking of the frangible elements or wires 42. The links 29 and 3B of the rocket-bomb in launching position and which have served to suspend the previously released rocket-bomb are adapted to be retracted against the body of the rocket-bomb under the action of a spring 43.

As clearly shown in Figs. 9 and 19, the empem nage elements or fins 26 of the rocket-bombs 44-41, four in number in the example shown, are folded back or retracted when the rocket-bombs are housed in the magazine, 0 as to reduce the housing space requirement. Upon a rocketbomb issuing from the magazine said fins are adapted to spread out automatically, either under the action of aerodynamic stress or through the action of suitable spring means not shown for greater clarity in the drawings.

Upon firing, the three lowermost rocket-bombs which are in launching position are simultaneously released. The shafts of the screw members are set into rotation by means of any suitable device such as a motor under manual or automatic control, for instance in response to the rear ends of the rockets being no longer supported on the stop 39. The whole assembly of the rocket-bombs contained in the magazine are thereby caused to be fed one step downward by an amount equal to the pitch of the screw threads and the three lowermost rocket-bombs in the magazine are in turn brought to launching position. The feed movement is arrested automatically, for instance in response to the engagement of the rocket-bombs with the stop members 39.

The uppermost rocket-bomb in the magazine are when in launching position supported by the follower structure 2i which participates in the bodily feed movement of the rocket-bombs and which comprises suspension links.

Re-loading of the magazine is affected by presenting rocket-bombs to its base aperture and rotating the screw in an opposite direction from that used normally to feed the rocket-bombs to launching position.

As clearly shown in Figs. 3 and 10, the rocketbombs are adapted to be guided at the rear ends thereof during the downward feed movement thereof through the magazine by means of an extension 43 of the body of the rockets, ratherv than being guided by the empennage structure thereof.

It will of course be understood that the invention is not to be restricted to any of the details described and shown, but only as defined by the claims.

We claim:

1. Aircraft rocket-releasing device which comprises an aperture in the aircraft, a plurality of parallel rockets overlying said aperture, means for supporting and feeding said rockets towards said aperture in a direction substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal extent of the rockets, and hooking means interposed between two adjacent rockets in separate zones of the respective rockets lengthwise thereof, said hooking means being retracted along and between the rockets overlying the aperture and extended by the weight of the lowermost rocket of said plurality suspended therefrom as said lowermost rocket passes through the aperture, thereby removing said lowermost rocket from a position adjacent the immediately overlying rocket.

2. Aircraft rocket-releasing device which comprises a substantially rectangular aperture i the aircraft, a first pair of oppositely-disposed rotatable uprights above said aperture, a second pair of oppositely-disposed rotatable uprights behind the first pair, each said rotatable upright formed with a helical groove, a plurality of rockets supported by the oppositely-disposed grooves, a parallel linkage system interposed between consecutive rockets, means urging said systems to expanded condition, abutment means cooperating with said rockets to prevent such expansion until the time a rocket has passed through said aperture, and means for imparting to said uprights identical rotations to feed the rockets towards said aperture.

3. Device as in claim 2 which comprises further abutment means adapted to cooperate with a rocket upon said rocket having passed through the aperture.

4. Rocket-release device which comprises an aperture in the aircraft, a magazine overlying said aperture, a plurality of parallel rockets in said magazine, means for supporting within said magazine said rockets substantially in contact engagement with one another, an empennage structure with retractable fins for each'rocket, and means retaining said fins in retracted condition within the magazine, hooking means connecting two successive rockets of said plurality inoperative as long as said two rockets are nside said magazine but operative as the lowermost rocket is discharged from the magazine and suspending it from the other one.

5. In a device as in claim 2, means for preventing retraction of th parallel linkage system when in expanded condition.

6. Device for launching rockets from an ailplane which comprises means defining a substantially rectangular aperture in the airplane, a first opposite pair of uprights and a second opposite pair of uprights over said aperture spaced from said first pair longitudinally of the airplane, one upright in each pair having a helical groove and being mounted for rotation, a plurality of rockets housed between the uprights of both pairs and supported by said grooves, an extensible parallel linkage system interposed between each successive pair of adjacent rockets and connected thereto at different points lengthwise thereof, a stop cooperating with said rockets for preventing the extension of the related linkage of said system until the rocket has passed out of said aperture whereafter said extension is caused by the weight of the rocket suspended freely from said linkage, and means for rotating said rotatable uprights in synchronism for feeding the rockets towards said aperture.

7. In an airplane, a bottom wall having an aperture therein, a vertical rank of rockets positioned above said aperture and havin their axes substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the airplane, vertical guide means for the rockets while positioned above said aperture, means for controlling the downward movement of the rank of rockets under gravity and for supporting each rocket successively in a lowermost firing position below said aperture, and suspension means connecting each rocket to the neXt higher rocket in said rank and supporting it therefrom in a position clear of said aperture.

ROGER ROBERT. PIERRE MATGE.

REFERENCES orrnn The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,277,942 Kaylor Sept. 3, 1918 1,413,694 Vollmer Apr. 25, 192 1,564,926 Armstrong Dec. 8, 1925 1,805,360 De Vlieg May 12, 1931 1,879,840 Brandt Sept. 27, 1932 2,409,210 Jolly Oct. 15, 19 6 2,440,634 Henney Apr. 27, 1948 2,440,723 MacDonald May 4, 1948 2,450,951 Goodhue et a1 Oct. 12, 1948 2,451,522 Uhl et a1 Oct. 19, 1948 2,451,745 Jolly Oct. 19, 1948 2,528,945 Carpenter Nov. 7, 1950 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 458,694 France Aug. 13, 1913 72,736 Australia Nov. 10, 1916 503,812 France Mar. 26, 1920 175,574 Great Britain Feb. 23, 1922 308,574 Germany June 6, 1922 17,998 Poland May 6, 1933 573,735 Great Britain Dec. 4, 1945 

